Neil Le Milliere - Trust Election Thread

[NleMecfc]

I believe there’s nothing more important than fostering our local youth sports to provide children a safe place to get physically active and enjoy competitive football matches with their peers.

How would you like The Trust to be more involved in youth teams further promote The Trust & Junior Grecians and of course ECFC to all our FA Team members who play every weekend in the Greater Exeter Area.

Rob
HUFC & ECFC Supporter

Thanks for the question Rob. The first thing to say is that the current Junior Grecians set up is doing a fantastic job and the first name on anyone's voting slip should be Clive in recognition of this. Promoting the Club, Junior Grecians, and the Trust to local football team members is of paramount importance as all of these players have an interest in football already and we need to foster this and grow it to relate it to their local professional club. The club already do a lot of work getting junior teams in to play at half time and the Football in the Community do a fantastic job promoting the club and matchdays. The one area where we need to improve is in promoting the Trust to the same people and I am not sure I have an answer as the reason for being is far removed from their own experiences of football. I'd welcome suggestions and indeed have been talking to other Trusts about both this and the recruitment and retention of members. Most other Trusts are jealous of our membership numbers and retention rates but if we want to stay in this position then its something we have to crack.

Cheers, Neil

 

[NleMecfc]

This years Trust competitive Election unfortunately aligned to the 3 year tenure this highly competitive year will be followed by a semi competitive year to no election uncontested.


Would you consider re-standing next year or like Trustee Peter Holding standing on a bi-yearly so standing every two years not three.

He won re-election 3 years ago then stood last year so will be re-standing next year, would you as a candidate be willing to stand down after one or two year and let the membership re-vote for you on for your achievements.

Regards,

Robyn Goodall

Good morning again Robyn. I see no reason that every year can't be competitive so not sure why you think it won't be in the next two years. I think Pete is in a different position but don't feel able to comment on what his reasons may or may not be but also don't understand why you think he will be standing next year as if he was elected last year then that was for three years presumably. The three year cycle is built into the Trust rules to ensure a satisfactory churn of Trustees but also to ensure the turnover doesn't take away experience too soon. Standing down after a year or two years doesn't make any sense, especially a year, and especially for new appointments as they will hardly have got up to speed after a year. in my case I am standing for a three year appointment and, if elected, that's what I'll do unless my circumstances change or the rules do. In actual fact if I'm elected and complete this three years then I won't be able to stand again under the current rules as I will have completed the maximum consecutive number of years.

Cheers, Neil

 

[NleMecfc]

Neil, what are your thoughts of the branding of Exeter City FC? I see the need to improve the commercial income of the Club, but could it create a wedge between the traditional football followers and the Club?

BTW. You're welcome to leave the response to this question until after the announcement tomorrow evening.

Hants of Hampshire.

Interesting Paul, I'll defer the main answer until after tonight as you suggest I think. Commercial income for the Club is something we've tried to crack for years and despite various experts being appointed and expert opinion being sought and listened to we still can't make it the major part of our income that we would like.

 

[NleMecfc]

Bed now and then hosting nine Norwegians tomorrow bringing them down for the game on Saturday so will return to this thread probably on Sunday.

 

[IndoMike]

Thanks for this point. The fact that Exeweb is happy doesn't mean to say that I have to be. To me it is only common courtesy and a sign of respect to identify yourself when talking to someone and is one of the reasons I don't use Exeweb. However in this instance it's a choice for those posing questions and a choice for me whether I answer them. if I, and others, are to be judged on our answers isn't it only fair for those asking them to identify themselves as well?

Cheers, Neil

Yes, I agree that you are entitled to answer or not answer questions directed to you if they are anonymous.
Exeweb rules clearly states that Exeweb has no objection to anonymous posters.
I imagine some candidates will agree with you and some not. I guess it's up to.them to decide independently.

 

[eurogrecian]

My Exeweb inexperience is showing as I can't find your name in your profile but no matter as I think I know who you are. Simple answer No. The reason is I can see no circumstances where I would want our club to be in anyone's hands/control other than the supporters who I trust as a collective voice. I have seen at first hand how well meaning owners or even good owners sell the club on and we see those clubs back in trouble with bad owners. We have experienced this ourselves and enough is enough two administrations and going within days of disappearing are things i never want to see again. if someone comes along and wants to invest in the club then fine, do it, why do you need control of it as well if all you want is success for the club?

Cheers, Neil

Thanks Neil, clear answer. Good luck in the elections
[and yes, I'm David Morgan, maybe the refreshed exeweb has wiped my personal details from my profile]

 

[HUFC1885]

Good morning again Robyn. I see no reason that every year can't be competitive so not sure why you think it won't be in the next two years. I think Pete is in a different position but don't feel able to comment on what his reasons may or may not be but also don't understand why you think he will be standing next year as if he was elected last year then that was for three years presumably. The three year cycle is built into the Trust rules to ensure a satisfactory churn of Trustees but also to ensure the turnover doesn't take away experience too soon. Standing down after a year or two years doesn't make any sense, especially a year, and especially for new appointments as they will hardly have got up to speed after a year. in my case I am standing for a three year appointment and, if elected, that's what I'll do unless my circumstances change or the rules do. In actual fact if I'm elected and complete this three years then I won't be able to stand again under the current rules as I will have completed the maximum consecutive number of years.

Cheers, Neil

Great Answer and with your views

 

[Red Bill]

Why am I shooting myself in the foot Byll? If I am prepared to put myself here to answer questions why would posters not show the same courtesy and respect and identify themselves in return?

Turning to your question I disagree that there are "a lot of things unnecessarily restricted to the closed part of TB meetings". I cannot speak for former Trustees but having been on the TB from the start (save a year) I would contend this is not the case. interesting in itself that you quote former Trustees as they are continue to be legally bound by the Code of Conduct that all trustees sign up to so should not be talking about what happened during their time on the TB. There are lots of items for discussion that can only be discussed in a confidential environment, be they commercial in confidence; of a personal nature; subject to a time factor; or are subject to FA and EFL rules. As soon as and if they fail this test then they are shared. This is all part of running a company or business, no more no less. I push for openness and transparency at every opportunity but understand this is not always possible. Interesting that you call for more openness about items of business whilst also previously mentioning people not identifying themsleves?

Cheers, Neil

I'm trying to give you a bit of a heads up Neil! Having posted on Exweb for a few years, I know how people take against peple coming on here and making demands, particularly those that go against the forums understood practice. Whether or not you want to listen to advice is obviously entirely your choice. I would have thought adopting such a defensive, confrontational attitude probably won't win you many votes.

I doubt i'm alone in thinking that questioning the procedures of the Trust Board isn't a breach of confidentiality. Divulging the content would be of course, but none of the ex trustees who post on here have done that. But anyway, i'm not an ex trustee so it doesn't concern me.
However ex trustees have questioned whether some of the items discussed in the part B meeting needs to be discussed in closed session. When Clive answered this same question, he said things are now much better, suggesting they once weren't, and at least one poster I know to be an ex trustee, added a like to my question, which suggests to me he also felt that more items than necessary were discussed in Part B. So that gives me more than enough to believe my question was perfectly valid.
If like Clive you'd said this is no longer the case, i'd have taken that. But to outright deny it and attempt to demonise former trustees, makes me suspicious. The comments about former trustees may even break election rules regarding negative campaigning.

 

[HUFC1885]

With the big Devon Derby on Saturday what is your view of Plymouth fans in the home sections of the ground, should they be removed from the ground and taken of the Club Trust date base or just let them keep buying tickets for the home ends stopping real Exeter fans from enjoy the event.

 

[Red Bill]

Thanks for this question Byll. As you may be aware, but for those not aware, I act as the Independent Chair on a number of Election Management Groups for many other Trusts so have a wide experience of what happens elsewhere to compare to our experience at Exeter. Our Election turnouts are certainly comparable and in a lot of case better than at other Trusts so it is a common problem.

I agree that making it as easy as possible is the ideal and is something that I feel we have always taken seriously at Exeter, what can be simpler than having an envelope delivered through your door with everything you need to vote? it does sometimes come down to personal responsibility.

The introduction of an online facility is certainly a way forward but unfortunately, as things stand, there is no system endorsed by the powers that be as being secure and reliable. We are very lucky that the Devon and Exeter Returning Officer volunteers to run our elections for us and his advice is paramount with regard to this. As soon as there is a recognised/approved system I am sure we will implement it.

Interestingly I am currently running the Newcastle United Supporters Trust Election and they are using an electronic system (which they have bought and paid a lot of money for) and as I have pointed out to them you can drive a coach and horses through some of the loopholes and features with regard to ensuring it is members voting and only voting once. However even with this system where emails have gone directly into in boxes with simple click though links to vote there is currently only a 24% turn out after over a week of voting (and 19% of that was on the first day) so with only five days to go the turn out is still not great given how easy it was made for people to vote.

Cheers, Neil

Thanks Neil,
I'm no IT expert, quite the opposite but having voted online in other elections, the Labour Party leadership election probably being the ball biggest with most far reaching implications, which seemed a very simple process, (from memory I was sent a link to my registered email, that generated a unique single use code, that I used in conjunction with my membership number I think. Although it was three years ago, so can't be certain) so i'm surprised to hear the concerns. As someone who's been involved with online elections, could you explain why or how these votes can be compromised. Maybe the faults you identified with Newcastle's software might shed some light. This is a genuine question as I really don't know what the issues are and every time ask I get the stock answer about robustness, but without explanation of the issues.

I would say that a postal paper ballot certainly isn't the easiest thing to do as you suggest. The nearest post box to me is about a mile or so away. As I and people in general don't use traditional post much these days, I no longer carry stamps around with me, so first have to remember tö find somewhere to buy a stamp, then during my busy work schedule i have to remember to post it, often I can't find somewhere to stop nearby a post box i might pass or simply don't have the time. The last time I had to post a letter, it was in my car for six days before I got round to posting it. So no, posting a ballot isn't as easy as voting by tapping a few keys on my phone or computer from the comfort of my living room, as i'm doing now.